McLaren’s ambitions to repeat its 1995 victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans are still standing, and have received a boost thanks to the extension of the current prototype regulations, with Hypercars and LMDh, until the 2029 season.
Zak BrownCEO of McLaren, has declared that the entry of those from Woking in the Hypercar categories, of the World Endurance Championship, or GTP of the American IMSA, It’s more of a “when” than a question of whether it will happen or not.. The American explained that the decision to extend the life cycle of the Hypercar and LMDh technical regulations by two more years, from 2027 to 2029, has given McLaren “more room to breathe.”
“Costs in motorsport are very important, and I think that the extension of the regulations definitely helps our business modelwhich we have established internally,” said Brown, who has been outspoken about McLaren’s sports car racing aspirations since assuming his current role as CEO in 2018.
“We would have to work two years in advance: if we were talking about [entrar] in 2026, we would have to make a decision tomorrow. You wouldn’t want to enter a championship category in the last season“.
Thus, Brown revealed that McLaren is “contemplating all scenarios” regarding returning to the top category of sports cars since it had the F1 GTR program in the 90s. “But it is clear that, If you’re into sports car racing, you want to win Le Mans.“he continued.
Brown previously stated that McLaren’s ambitions are to have a factory team in the World Endurance Championship, with LMDh units, and potentially have customer cars in IMSA. “LMDh would be the most favorable category“he confirmed.
What cannot be known is Whether there will be room in the WEC for another manufacturer in the Hypercar class later this decadeas the grid is likely to be at capacity in 2025 despite its expansion to 40 cars.
McLaren’s campaign in the WEC’s LMGT3 category with United Autosports this year could be crucial in paving the way for a step forward, Brown explained. “We need business partners“, and the exposure we get in GT3 will give us an idea of what the commercial market is and how much support we can get.”
Brown also stressed that it will be important to have a high-level sports car program. do not distract McLaren Racing from its other projects in Formula 1, IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E.
“If we take on another project, we have to make sure it doesn’t disrupt our other activities. We are not far from feeling that we could take on another project without diluting the performance of our F1 team, the IndyCar team, or the electric categories.” he explained. “We are making profits as a racing team; McLaren Racing is in very good healthand then it’s just about timing.”
Michael Leiters, CEO of McLaren Automotive, insisted that none of the key technical decisions on a potential LMDh project have been made. That includes the choice of engine: The lack of suitability of its V8 M840T for road cars was one of the reasons why McLaren’s aspirations to create a prototype have been put on hold.
“First we have to decide when and how to do it, and then we will get to the engine. It would be perfect to have an engine in line with our street car programs, that would be our dream, but we would never compromise our competitiveness.“, he concluded.
